12 October 2008

Cooktown Croc Attack

A man was taken by a crocodile last week at the Endeavor River just outside Cooktown where I'm living. It happened the day before Michaela and I left for Brisbane. I was caught up with studying so I didn't pay much attention at the time but it's been all over the news and it's all anyone is talking about up here. The following is an excerpt from an article about the tragic attack.

The family of a man who is believed to have been taken by a crocodile in far north Queensland say they are devastated but hoping for a miracle.

Arthur Booker, 62, from Logan, south of Brisbane, has not been seen since he went to check a crab pot at the Endeavour River Escape campsite near Cooktown, north of Cairns, about 8.30am (AEST) Tuesday.

...

Cairns Police District Inspector Ian Swan told AAP Wednesday's search found a second sandal belonging to Mr Booker 400 metres upstream.

Mr Booker's wristwatch was also found earlier.

The only other clues to his disappearance were a camera on the bank, the track marks of a crocodile and a snapped crab pot line.

"There are 15 people searching and the searching is in boats," Insp Swan said.

The Endeavour River Escape campsite's Terry Rayner identified a six-metre crocodile named Charlie as the key suspect.

"He lives there. That's his territory. He's the alpha male there," Mr Rayner said.

But Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service regional manager James Newman told ABC Radio two other large crocodiles were spotted in the area and search crews were exercising caution.

The University of Queensland's crocodile expert Professor Craig Franklin said crocodiles were ambush predators on the lookout for repeated patterns of activity from potential prey.

"They don't target humans. They're opportunistic feeders," Prof Franklin told AAP.

The owner of Cooktown's The Lure Shop, Russell Bowman, said Mr Booker had made the fatal mistake of returning to the same location twice, having set his crab pot and returning to retrieve it.

"It's one of the basic rules you apply, don't form habits," Mr Bowman said.


Here is a link to the entire story: http://au.news.yahoo.com/a/-/latest/5050723/hopes-fade-suspected-croc-victim/

At the end of this article there is a reference to a croc attack in 2005 where a man was pulled out of his canoe. This happened on a part of the river where we camped in Lakefield national park. And while it is obviously tragic when someone is taken by a croc the man was also not being very smart. He and his wife were in canoes on the river (a very, very bad idea) where they were hoping to film some crocodiles. The story goes that in order to lure the crocodiles out so they could be filmed the couple was throwing chum into the water around their canoes. This, according to the locals, is unspeakably idiotic. It's just a step above tying rotting meat around your waist and going for a swim. In order to placate the family, park rangers were required to kill the crocodile that ate the man. Only they got the wrong crocodile. You want to know how they know this? A few days later a different crocodile pooped out his wrist watch.

In any case I have learned that crocodiles do not mess around and are not to be messed around with. It's safe to say I'll be staying out of the water.

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